RELATED LINKS

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The 70th-ranked North Carolina men's
tennis team (7-9, 0-3 ACC) fell to No. 52 Virginia Tech (10-3, 2-0 ACC) by a
score of 4-3 on Friday at Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. The Tar Heels made a
strong push after trailing 3-0, but ultimately could not claim their first ACC
victory.

The Hokies jumped out
to an early lead, taking two of the three doubles matches to clinch the doubles
point.

Carolina cruised to an
early advantage in doubles when Oystein Steiro and Brett Clark defeated Trpimir Kujundzic and Marko Lovrinovic at the No.
3 seed, 8-3. However, The Hokies quickly countered by sweeping the remaining doubles
matches. At
the No. 1 seed, the 21st-ranked pairing of Andreas Bjerrehus and
Amerigo Contini edged Esben Hess-Olesen and Maik Ulrich, 8-5. Virginia Tech took
the doubles point behind the pairing of Hunter Koontz and Lucas Oliveira, who downed
Nelson Vick and William Parker at No. 2 doubles, also by an 8-5 count.

In singles play, the Tar Heels put together an impressive
rally that fell just short.

Joao Monteiro defeated Taylor Meyer at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-1, to
give the Hokies a 2-0 lead. No. 73 Amerigo Contini extended
the Hokies lead by taking out #35 Esben Hess-Olesen in a close match at the No.
1 seed, 6-4, 6-3.

The middle of Carolina's lineup then proceeded to run off
consecutive victories. No. 114 Oystein Steiro handled Hunter Koontz, 6-4, 6-4,
at the No. 5 seed to get the Tar Heels on the board. Senior William Parker then
claimed a 7-5, 6-4 win over Trpimir Kujundzic at No. 4 to cut the Hokies' lead to 3-2.

Virginia Tech went on to clinch the match at the No. 2 seed, though,
where the #91 Andreas Bjerrehus defeated #113 Nelson Vick, 7-6(5), 6-1.

In the final match of the day, No. 104 Brett Clark rallied to secure
a victory at the No. 3 seed by a score of 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, but the effort proved
too little, too late for the Heels.

Carolina will be back in action on Sunday, when they face top-ranked
Virginia in Charlottesville at 1:00 p.m.